Mizuho Reiterates Meta Outperform, $750 Target Ahead of Connect Event

Mizuho analyst Lloyd Walmsley reiterated a Buy rating and a $750 price target on Meta Platforms, citing the rapid adoption of the company's Muse AI assistant. Muse has climbed to the No. 1 spot in the U.S. app store, according to the Tuesday analyst note. Walmsley also pointed to Meta's planned Connector Platform and additional AI updates expected at Meta Connect 2026 as potential drivers, with integration into the company's smart glasses offering Muse another distribution channel. On valuation, Meta trades at about 22 times estimated 2027 earnings, compared with roughly 30 times for Alphabet when investor enthusiasm around Gemini was elevated, based on Bloomberg data.

Meta Platforms is heading into Meta Connect 2026 on Sept. 23 and 24, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg expected to unveil new smart glasses, a VR headset and updates to the company's metaverse push. The event follows an 11% single-day surge in META stock, driven by strong reception of the new Muse AI assistant, which launched on Sept. 8 and racked up 730,000 downloads in roughly five days, overtaking ChatGPT as the top free iOS app in the United States. Meta expects capital expenditures of $130-$145 billion in 2026, with total expenses guided between $165 billion and $169 billion, while second-quarter revenue of $60.8 billion was almost entirely advertising at $59.36 billion and Reality Labs posted a $4.62 billion operating loss on just $431 million of revenue. In late August, the company agreed to pay roughly $17 billion to settle state lawsuits alleging it misrepresented the harm its apps could cause to children and teens, and Amazon has already blocked Muse from accessing its shopping site over privacy and security concerns. The Zacks Consensus Estimate implies 2026 sales and EPS growth of 26.4% and 34% respectively, though EPS estimates have declined over the past 60 days, and META carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Snap Inc. is pushing its $2,195 Specs augmented-reality glasses into the enterprise market through partnerships with Salesforce, Nvidia, and Amazon Web Services. Salesforce's Agentforce will bring AI agents to the glasses, Nvidia technology will support visual recognition, and AWS will provide voice-assistant capabilities, while Snap also introduced Specs Intelligence, its own AI service for the device. Specs are expected to begin shipping in the U.S., UK, and France this fall, with a $2,395 package that includes a cellular-enabled charging case. CEO Evan Spiegel said in June that Snap had already invested more than $3.5 billion in Specs, even as activist investor Irenic Capital pushed the company to divest the business or seek outside financing, and Snap previously reorganized Specs into a standalone subsidiary. The enterprise push comes as Snap reported second-quarter 2026 revenue rose 19% to $1.60 billion, with free cash flow of $121 million versus $24 million a year earlier and $2.7 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities at the end of June. Snap faces formidable competition, as Meta's newest smart glasses start at $299 and Meta accounted for roughly 76.1% of global smart-glasses sales last year, while Apple and Google are also developing competing devices, according to Reuters.